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Sufi Islamic Discourse in Africa religions Article Sufi Islamic Discourse in Africa: From the Greatest Jihad to the Establishment of the African Caliphate Hamdy A. Hassan Department of International Studies, Zayed University, Dubai P.O. Box 19282, UAE; [email protected] Received: 28 September 2020; Accepted: 24 November 2020; Published: 29 November 2020 Abstract: In the nineteenth century, African Muslim societies were marked by the emergence of a reformist Sufi Islamic discourse aimed at changing and moving away from traditional Islamic practices. Although this discourse was influenced, to some extent, by external sources of inspiration, it was linked to the local African context. This study demonstrates that the reformist discourse of major Sufi figures such as Sheikh Amadu Bamba in Senegal and Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio in Nigeria reflects a number of common features of Islamic reform in Africa, yet their reform programs were shaped by the conditions of the local context. This research contribution aims to understand the actual role that the discourse of Sufi spirituality played—and still does—in the religious, economic, and political life of Muslim societies in Africa. This study has shown that despite the prevailing belief that Sufi discourse does not tend to politicize as it tries to maintain a safe distance away from matters of politics and governance in order to achieve its message of moral and spiritual purity, it may turn into violent radicalism as embodied by the jihadist Sufi experience in West Africa. Keywords: Sufism; jihad; Islamic discourse; Muridiyya order; Caliphate; Amadu Bamba; Usman Dan Fodio 1. Introduction Islam has become, as Mazrui(1986) emphasizes, one of the main components of the triple cultural heritage of Africa. According to this view, contemporary African society is characterized by social elements drawn from three sources: indigenous African traditions, Islamic religious and cultural inputs, and Western secular civilization. Sufism, with its various cultural forms, is usually called African Islam. In fact, the African continent, including the Islamic bloc in the West, has been culturally altered by Sufism and has put its mark on Sufi practices as well. It is this fact that causes some historians to argue that the history of Islam in Africa is primarily the history of Sufism, and that Sufism in Africa differs in doctrine and practice from Sufism elsewhere in the world (Hannoum 2016). Muslims always needed to constantly consider matters pertaining to the practice of belief and understanding the religion, and this may agree with two Hadiths narrated from the Prophet Muhammad, in the first of which he says: “The best of generations is my generation, then those who follow them, and then whose who follow the latter. After that there will come some people whose witness will go ahead of their oaths, and their oaths will go ahead of their witness.,” (Al-Bukhari n.d.). In another Hadith, the Prophet says: “Allah sends to this Ummah a man at the end of every hundred years to renew the matters of its religion for it.” Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (Abu¯ Da’¯ ud¯ n.d.). Imam al-Shafi’i is usually seen as the reformer of Islam in the second century Anno Hegirae (AH). In any case, since the nineteenth century, Africa witnessed many reform movements that adopted different styles of Islamic discourse, which we will deal with in this study. The literature on Sufi Islamic discourse, especially in West Africa, can be divided into three categories. Early writings in the colonial period and afterwards were associated with an attempt to connect some traditional beliefs with Sufi practices, which implies a pacifist black Religions 2020, 11, 639; doi:10.3390/rel11120639 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2020, 11, 639 2 of 16 Islam less dangerous than Middle Eastern Islam (Seesemann and Soares 2009; Bravmann 1983; Cruise O’Brien and Coulon 1988). However, the claim of African Islam, which lacks authenticity and intellectual foundation, can be refuted easily. Hunwick and Hunwick and O’Fahey(1994) have asserted the breadth and depth of intellectual production by African Muslim scholars, many of whom were affiliated to Sufi orders. The second category includes works by anthropologists, historians, and specialists in Islamic studies. They attempt to understand Sufism not only as a political force in a local context, but also as a religious force in general. These studies developed a theoretical basis and a functional understanding of researchers in the field of Islamic mysticism, especially in West Africa (Brenner 2000; Robinson 1985). Ware et al.(2018) examined the writings of Usman Dan Fodio, Umar Tal, Amadu Bamba, and Ibrahim Niasse, who, between them, founded the largest Muslim communities in African history. The third, more recent category, focused on the transformations of the Sufi discourse and its role in the struggle against colonialism, then its transformation into radicalism and its demand to achieve the concept of justice (Oros 2019; Jah 1974; Babou 2005; Hill 2014). This study argues that the Islamic Sufi discourse, like any other discourse, is based on a specific textual and epistemological structure. What the discourse offers are interpretations of Islamic sources, which give it the characteristic of pluralism and diversity. It is often difficult to define precisely specific elements of “Islamic discourse” within a specific socio-cultural and political context and to assess their ability to effectively shape Muslim thought and behavior across time and space. Here comes the role of religious institutions and authorities. There is a reference that defines the ideas, images, rules, terms, and concepts that Muslims rely on when trying to determine the position of Islam on any issue at hand. This study will rely on the qualitative approach in understanding the nature of the Sufi Islamic discourse and the motives for its renewal on the one hand, and some of its Sufi patterns on the other hand. We have relied on some foundational studies of the pioneers of Islamic mysticism in Africa, especially those written in Arabic, such as the works of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio. In this context, the study seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What is the nature of Islamic discourse in general, and the motives for its renewal in Africa? (2) What part has the Sufi reformist discourse played in the religious, economic, and political life of Muslim societies in Africa? Therefore, the study is divided into three basic parts, the first of which discusses the concept of Islamic discourse and the motives for its renewal in Africa. The second and third parts focus on studying two types of Sufi discourse, namely, the model of Amadu Bamba in Senegal and the model of Dan Fodio in Nigeria. It is important to note that the contemporary Salafi jihadism collides with the Sufi discourse as a heterodox interpretation of Islam. Yet, it embraces the legacy of the purification of Sufi brotherhood in the nineteenth century through “Salafizing” its jihadist campaigns (Kassim and Zenn 2017). Salafi jihadists such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Boko Haram in Nigeria are building on this process of Salafization by expanding its scope to include jihadist Sufi discourse against colonial rule in the nineteenth century. This Sufi legacy, highly respected by many Muslim communities in Africa, helps explain the rise of radical Salafism in many areas of traditional Sufi orders in Africa. To help us understand the reformist pre-colonial legacy of Sufism in Africa and its impact on contemporary jihadist Salafism, the following Table will address the nature of the Islamic discourse and the motives for its renewal in Africa. 2. Islamic Discourse and Motives for Its Renewal The concept of Islamic discourse, with its epistemological connotations and its ideological dimensions related to its source and its various societal contexts, can be viewed as one of the basic approaches to understanding and studying the traditions of reform and renewal in contemporary Islamic thought (Altwaijri 2003). In the Qur’anic understanding, the word ‘Khitab’ [address, discourse, speech] was mentioned three times, including the Almighty’s saying: “And We strengthened his kingdom and gave him wisdom and discernment in ‘Khitab’ [speech]” (Surah Saad: 38:20). The word ‘Khitab’ here is coupled with wisdom, which ensures brevity by including a lot of meaning into a little word. The two linguistic and Qur’anic concepts converge in emphasizing the sublime significance of Religions 2020, 11, 639 3 of 16 the discourse, considering that “discernment in ‘Khitab’ [speech]” is not done in the best way, unless it is combined with wisdom, as if it is intended to fully and completely clarify the face of truth. The concept, in general, refers to textual traditions as contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah and presents those in a way that makes them appear convincing and necessary. Accordingly, this discourse can be considered the legacy of the reformist traditions that have managed since the eighteenth century to leave clear imprints in the life of contemporary Muslim societies (Ziadeh 2004). Depending on the local context, Islamic reform may have taken different shapes and patterns. But these patterns have always insisted on the supremacy of the standard textual tradition. Based on this, I argue that the renewal of this Islamic discourse signifies, in fact, an attempt to discover what can take the place of modernity in Western thought, provided that this discovery is from within the Islamic reference (Hassan 2015). In any case, the diversity of sources and the environment of Islamic discourse has led to the existence of different images and forms of the traditions of reform and renewal in the Islamic world. However, the common denominator has always been, at least for the most part, the affirmation of the supremacy of textual standards and their superiority over the various traditions that shape the lives of Muslims in various fields.
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